Flower Export (I)

choi

(1) Christopher F Schuetze, Dutch Flowers Auction, Long Industry's Heart, Is Facing Competition; More flowers are bought online and shipped directly. New York Times, Dec 17, 2014 (under the heading 'Aalsmeer journal;' video)
www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/world ... g-competition-.html

Quote:

"Each weekday morning, the buyers descend on Aalsmeer, about a half-hour southwest of Amsterdam * * * They squeeze onto benches, glare at computer screens and, with the push of a button, bid on an encyclopedic array of flowers: everything from amaryllis, chrysanthemums and gerbera to kangaroo paws

"Today, more than half of the world’s cut flowers are bought and sold at the auction here, which has been the hub of the global flower trade since the early 20th century.

However: "Today, virtually anyone with an Internet connection and a buyer’s license can bid via computer at the [Aalsmeer] auction without actually having to come and inspect the stems. * * * But [as time goes by] more of them [bidder] are buying at a distance, with growers supplying digital photos and data on the length, size and health of flowers.

"the flower industry — still more than 5 percent of the Netherlands’ gross domestic product

"The cooperative FloraHolland represents Dutch and international growers and runs auction and distribution centers. * * * At the same time, profits [of the cooperative] grew to 4.5 billion euros (about $5.6 billion) a year from 4.1 billion euros, in transactions for 12.4 billion plants and flowers each year.

“Mr [Geert] Hageman[, a veteran tulip grower and owner of his tulip business Triflor,] estimated that 40 percent of his tulips were now sold before they were grown and harvested, which he said helped him plan for peak periods like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

“He [Hageman] rarely goes to the auction now, he said. Instead, he follows the action from a terminal in his office, which shows the clock and the price his tulips fetch in Aalsmeer, some 30 miles south. * * * Likewise, more of the flowers, particularly roses, grown by producers who have migrated to Africa or elsewhere never actually see the auction hall. ‘The energy cost and the labor cost are the main reason that the roses are grown in Africa these days,’ said Arie van den Berg, a second-generation Dutch rose grower who has shifted the bulk of his production to Kenya and China. His company, Van den Berg Roses, still tends to grow its exotic and valuable flowers in the Netherlands, where daily shipping to the auction center is less challenging. But cheaper roses are mostly grown in Africa and sold directly to big retailers [in Europe]
Such changes are challenging the status of the Netherlands as the center of the flower trade. And still more are on the horizon.

Note:
(a) The bottomline of this report is not that places other than Aalsmeer are encroaching on its dominance. Rather, the competition for the on-site auction is online bidders who bid at the same Aalsmeer auction. There is not another auction on the horizon, online or physical. I see no economic loss for Aalsmeer.
(b) Aalsmeer
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aalsmeer
(Its name is derived from the Dutch for eel (aal) and lake ([noun neuter] meer))

Quote: “Because the largest flower auction in the world is based in Aalsmeer, along with numerous nurseries and an experimental station for floriculture, the town is sometimes referred to as the flower capital of the world.

* Compare: German
Meer (noun neuter): "sea; (rare) a large lake"
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Meer

(c) flowers:
(i) amaryllis
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaryllis
(This is one of numerous genera with the common name "lily" due to their flower shape and growth habit. However, they are only distantly related to the true lily, Lilium)
(ii) kangaroo paws
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_paw
(a number of species in two genera; endemic to the south-west of western Australia)

choi

(2) My comment: Yesterday I read the above NYTimes report. Right away I wondered whatever happened to Yunnan flower business. See Keith Bradsher, Bouquet of Roses May Have Note: ‘Made in China.’ New York Times, Sept 26, 2014 (China (a) built roads at public expense to doors of flower growers, which is legal under international trade rules, and (b) subsidizes construction of greenhouses by private flower growers (a practice which is questionable). I searched high and low, found nothing in English and just one in Chinese that did not gave any valuation--only number of flowers--of Yunnan flower production.

李丹丹, 云花出口东盟10国增幅最大; 借助 '昆-曼国际冷藏运输线,' 近两年的增幅均超过50%. 昆明日报, June 5, 2014.
daily.clzg.cn/html/2013-06/05/content_354597.htm

(3) Andres Schipani, Market for Bogotá’s Flowers Set to Bloom and Bloom. Financial Times, Dec 8, 2014.
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73260172-7a15-11e4-8958-00144feabdc0.html

five consecutive paragraphs:  

The general manager of a Bogotá flower farm says that “that week in February [before St Valentine’s Day] amounts for 40 per cent of annual sales * * * Mother's Day is also an important sales focus.

“Once the flowers have bloomed, Mr Celi’s 350 employees will pick, wash and pack them, before they are refrigerated for export by air, mostly to Florida and California.

“Colombia is the world’s second-biggest flower exporter after The Netherlands. This area near the capital ships overseas more than 70 per cent of the country’s blooms.

“Between January and September, the nation exported more than 170,000 tonnes of flowers, amounting to almost $1.1bn, according to the latest data from the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters.

“More than 80 per cent of those flowers were shipped to the US, while other export destinations include Russia, Britain and Japan.

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